Belgium is set to enter Phase 3 of deconfinement measures next week, with a reopening of hotels, bars and restaurants and eased tourism restrictions, the National Security Council (CNS) said on Wednesday (3 June).

Belgium’s Poison Control Centre has recorded an increase of 15% in the number of calls it receives since the COVID-19 outbreak in mid-March, as people have increasingly started experimenting with hazardous substances. “The consequences of the coronavirus crisis are making...

While stores can open as planned next week Monday, restrictions on social life will only be slowly relaxed, Belgium's National Security Council (CNS) said, giving green light to the second phase of deconfinement measures, known as 1B, on Tuesday (6 May).

Around 778 tonnes of non-compliant or suspect phytosanitary products from India and China have been seized in Antwerp by the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC). EURACTIV's partner le Journal de l'environnement reports.

Belgium is to begin a gradual deconfinement with an exit strategy to be rolled out with the key dates of 4, 11 and 18 May, as well as 8 June, the National Security Council (CNS) decided on Friday (24 April).

Belgian experts tasked with devising the country's lockdown exit strategy have proposed reopening some shops, partially relaxing some restrictions on gatherings and outdoor activities from 3 May and to resume school from 18 May, according to draft recommendations obtained by Le Soir.

Belgium’s National Security Council (CNS) on Wednesday (15 April) extended the coronavirus containment measures by two weeks until 3 May. Despite a very slow decline in numbers, it is not yet clear when normality can being to return.

Hospitals in the Belgian capital called on the federal government on Wednesday (1 April) to address a shortage of medicines and equipment, as COVID-19 patients continue to arrive at intensive care units that are starting to fill up.

As the debate over distribution of EU funds continues in Belgium, nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and Vlaams Belang parties are consciously spreading disinformation about the coronavirus crisis and spicing it up with 'xenophobic sauce', Belgian MEP Parliament Kathleen Van Brempt (SP.A/S&D) criticised in a statement.

Belgium will end a two-week ban on supermarket promotions and discounts designed to discourage panic-buying after complaints that consumers were facing higher prices at a time of economic hardship due to the coronavirus.

Belgium's National Security Council (CNS) decided on Friday (27 March) to extend the coronavirus containment measures by two weeks until 19 April, after France applied the same time frame only hours earlier.

Two surgeons from the Hospital Saint-Pierre (ULB) in Brussels published a carte blanche to the attention of Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès over the weekend, sounding the alarm over the lack of medical and protective equipment to fight against the coronavirus. Wilmes responded with a letter of her own on Tuesday (24 March).

Belgium's newly formed federal government will provide €1 billion urgently to help hospitals face the coronavirus crisis as the situation in the coming days become "extremely intense" for healthcare services, it said on Friday (20 March).

Belgium declared a lockdown for the entire country over the coronavirus crisis from noon on Wednesday (18 March) until 5 April, following the example of several European countries, including neighbouring France, which took the same decision earlier this week.

In Belgium, the coronavirus pandemic has lead to a small political breakthrough on Sunday (15 March), as the main political parties agreed to grant the current caretaker government under Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes special powers for the next six months...

After a long meeting on Thursday (12 March) that stretched late into the evening, the Belgian National Security Council decided to take far-reaching measures to fight against the spreading coronavirus, installing a state of emergency over the entire country.

Police detained 185 protesters in central Brussels on Saturday (18 January) after the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion staged demonstrations at a car show in protest at the auto industry's role in CO2 emissions that cause climate change.

It's one of Belgium's worst kept secrets. Lawmakers on Thursday (16 January) narrowly rejected a resolution asking for the removal of US nuclear weapons stationed in the country and joining the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

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